College Football Notes – Aug. 6, 2017

Ara Parseghian, a 1980 College Football Hall of Fame inductee who coached at Miami (Ohio) and Northwestern before winning two national championships at Notre Dame and a share of a third, passed away Aug. 2 at his home in Granger, Ind. He was 94.
“Ara Parseghian embodied everything right with our great sport,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, a 1989 Hall of Fame inductee from Ole Miss. “A tenacious player in college, he devoted his life to the game, becoming one of the most successful coaches in the history of college football. He understood how to mold young players into champions, and his contributions to our sport rank among the greatest of all-time. We are deeply sadden by his passing, and our thoughts are prayers are with friends and family.”
One of the most iconic names in college football history, Parseghian coached Hall of Fame players Ron Burton at Northwestern and Ross Browner, Dave Casper, Thom Gatewood, John Huarte, Jim Lynch, Ken MacAfee, Alan Page, and Joe Theismann at Notre Dame.
Ara Parseghian’s early football days were spent with quality people. He lettered at halfback for Miami (Ohio) from 1946-47, playing for Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman and with teammate Paul Dietzel. He also played in 1945 for Great Lakes Naval Training Center and from 1948-49 for the Cleveland Browns. His coach at both those places was NFF Gold Medal recipient and Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Brown.
He landed his first coaching job as an assistant to Hall of Fame coach Woody Hayes at Miami (Ohio) in 1950 before taking over the school’s head job from 1951-55 and producing a record of 39-6-1.He coached at Northwestern from 1956-63 with a record of 36-35-1, and at Notre Dame 1964-74 with a record of 95-17-4. His totals for 24 years were 170-58-6 and an impressive winning percentage of .739. The NFF named his Notre Dame teams national champions three times, presenting them the NFF MacArthur Bowl in 1964, 1966 (famously split with Michigan State) and 1973.

Miami (Ohio) and Temple will meet in both 2020 and ’23…Liberty and Old Dominion schedule have added a new series in 2021 and ’22…ODU and Virginia also have a three-game series set for 2019, ’21 and ’22…Central Michigan will travel to Miami (Fla.) for the first time in 2019…Texas Wesleyan will play its first football game since a 39-0 win over Trinity (Texas) on Nov. 15, 1941, in Fort Worth, Texas, when the Rams travel to McPherson (Kan.) Sept. 2 for both teams’ home openers.

Rice athletics has earned the Conference USA Institutional Excellence Award for 2016-17 academic and competitive excellence. Rice Stadium also has been the site of the popular Rice Farmers Market most Tuesdays throughout the year with fresh produce and many Texas-made specialty items featured…East Carolina recruiters are mailing parchment-like ancient pirate scrolls to potential recruits in a new approach to the process…Friends and alumni of the New York City area Vince Lombardi Middle School are gathering support and funs to avoid the school’s 2017 football season from cancellation due to school system cutbacks.

Former Tennessee defensive coordinator John Jancek will work as a consultant for Kentucky’s football program…CBS Sports previewed 15 available head coaches, including interim head coach Matt Luke, as possibilities to take over as permanent head coach at Ole Miss…Nebraska defensive consultant Gary Darnell has finalized his contract terms for 2017…Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly acknowledged the upcoming campaign could be one of the most pivotal in recent UND football history…Georgia tabbed Odell Thurman as an intern in the strength and conditioning program…Former LSU and Oklahoma State head coach Les Miles spoke at a recent kickoff luncheon and indicated he had been in preliminary talks with Fox Sports about a possible broadcast position…Texas Tech’s assistant coaches each received new financial incentives… Florida Atlantic added Montario Hardsesty to head coach Lane Kiffin’s coaching staff…Former Hawai’i, SMU and NFL head coach June Jones is a new assistant coach for the CFL Hamilton Tiger Cats… Alabama’s Karmichael Dunbar, the son of assistant coach Karl Dunbar, is interning with the Crimson Tide’s football program…Idaho State will utilize Britt Maughan as a volunteer defensive coach this year…Navy’s director of football player personnel Sean Magee has accepted the same position on the ’17 Houston staff.

Sandy Hatfield-Clubb has stepped down as director of athletics at Drake after 11 years… The Tulsa World feted retiring President Steadman Upham for 12-plus years of contributions to assist Golden Hurricane athletics, coaches, student-athletes and administrators…Arizona State associate vice president/chief development officer Greg McElroy is retiring Sept. 15…Michigan State athletics named Alan Haller as chief of staff position…Elliott Charles was chosen as associate AD for compliance at Clemson…Tulane selected Nathan Quebedeaux as head athletics trainer…Longtime Texas Tech and WKU coach and administrator Corky Oglesby was honored with a special dinner at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, last week.

The NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl had an economic and tourism impact of $25 million for the Tucson area in its first season…The Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl will celebrate its 20th anniversary in December after beginning in 1998 with a 38-7 Virginia Tech win over Alabama in its first and only locale at historic Vanderbilt Stadium. In ’99 the venue moved to Nissan Stadium – home of the NFL Tennessee Titans.

The Pac-12 Conference named Laura Hazlett chief financial officer…The Big 12 Conference has reorganized its communications area with Rachel Coe as communications coordinator, Will Gulley as director of digital content & strategy, Joni Lehmann as director of media services and Aaron Pryor and Christine Williamson as digital media correspondents…The Sun Belt Conference has published a new brand standards guide for use by SBC members and media…The Central States Football League has preseason poll has defending CSFL champion Arizona Christian and newcomer Texas Wesleyan rated eighth of nine teams just ahead of of Texas College.

Stanford QB Keller Chryst, nephew of Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst and former Mid-American Conference commissioner Rick Chryst, has shown solid mobility in Cardinal pre-2017 workouts after rehabbing from a 2016 knee injury…Mississippi State is projecting returning 2016 starter Nick Fitzgerald and true freshman Keytaon Thompson as the Nos. 1-2 quarterbacks on the initial season depth chart…SMU returnees WR Courtland Sutton, QB Ben Hicks and RB Braeden West are hopeful of helping the Mustangs gain one more victory than last season’s 5-7 squad and to gain bowl eligibility…Baylor’s starting quarterback situation is a three-way tussle as the team moves into Week 2 of pre-fall workouts. The Bears also are working with both JaMycal Hasty and returning rusher leader (1,048 yards and 11 TDs in ’16) Terence Williams…Texas returning starting QB Shane Buchele is being counted on as a more vocal leader in ’17 by new head coach Tom Herman…Alabama’s Da’Shawn Hand has been reinstated for the upcoming squad…Texas Tech RBs Desmond Nisby, Justin Stockton and Caleb Woodward were impressive in a controlled scrimmage activity last Saturday…UCF kicker Donald De La Haye has lost his 2017 eligibility over a YouTube revenue ruling by the NCAA and is attempting an appeal…Arkansas State LB Khari Lain hopes to regain his eligibility after being suspended for the 2017 season…LSU TE Maea Teuhema is seeking reinstatement before the season opener…Former Louisville DL Chris Williams is looking for a place to display his football skills…Former Oklahoma freshman QB Chris Robison hopes to reach a new landing school of 2017 or ’18.

Historic Nebraska quarterbacks gathered at a recent fundraising golf tournament, and some of the notables were Steve Runty, Van Brownson, Ernie Sigler, Bob Churchich, Bob Newton, and Steve Taylor…Former Fresno State QB Derek Carr will have his No. 4 retired at ceremonies during the FSU-Incarnate Word football game Sept. 2 and will join quarterbacks Kevin Sweeney (No. 9) and Trent Dilfer (No. 12), wide receiver Henry Ellard (No. 83), running back Dale Messer (No. 21), and kicker Vince Petrucci (No. 14) as numerical retirees for the Bulldogs…Former Nebraska standout Andy Janovich was saluted for his work ethic in 2017 preseason camp by NFL Denver Broncos coaches…Former Baylor women’s basketball National Player of the Year and WNBA standout Brittney Griner has donated $5,000 to a youth center damaged by a recent fire.

Furman athletics has received an anonymous donation of $1 million to establish an endowment for the football program in honor of former Paladins and Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson, a current member of the College Football Playoff selection committee…Dayton athletics has finished most of Phase One of its $72 million renovation of historic Dayton Arena…The Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured how Turner Field has been transformed into Georgia State’s home facility for football in ’17…The Gerdin family made another $5 million donation for the Iowa Gerdin Family Athletics Learning Center…An area developer has proposed new game day condominiums adjacent to Michigan Stadium…South Carolina’s gameday gateway at Williams-Brice Stadium has been upgraded with a $125,000 gift from a prominent donor…Texas Tech football debuted its new indoor practice facility last week…Washington’s squad had a sneak preview of the $1 million locker room renovation at Husky Stadium…Tennessee athletics continues its promotion of a unified logo for teams rather than men’s and women’s squads’ separate identifying marks…Louisville athletics is working on some changes in its season ticketing system…LSU athletics has located a rescue tiger from a Florida big game preserve to serve as live mascot Mike VII…The Cleveland Plain Dealer provided an insider’s look to the football grant-in-aid program at Ohio State…OregonLive.com opined a piece about the most interesting college football scholarship offers…Texas athletics will implement a new clear-bag policy for all 2017-18 events beginning with football, volleyball and soccer home events…Texas Wesleyan features one of the most reasonable season ticket plans nationally at $45 for adults and $22.50 for children ages 6-12. Single game tickets will be available online during the week of each game or at the entrance gates on game days at historic Farrington Field in Fort Worth…Colorado State athletics posted a profit in 2016-17 and season ticket sales for football passed the 15,000 mark last week…Penn State has sold out season tickets for the first time since 2008…San Diego State athletics is adding promotions to increase student ticket sales for all sports…Tennessee athletics added more total donors in fiscal 2016-17, but total gifts dollar value dropped slightly…The Omaha World-Herald penned a feature on football player safety measures and the effect of rules’ changes in ’17…Auburn’s renderings of $61.7 million in potential facility upgrades were released last week…Cincinnati’ s Nippert Stadium will have a new, state-of-the-art new video board this season…The Citadel’s 3,800-seat plan for the east side of the university’s football stadium is under consideration…Memphis athletics has secured $10 million for construction of an indoor football practice facility and will name its new basketball facility the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center…Nevada athletics is preparing to make additional facilities’ renovations to its baseball stadium and other areas…Texas football is set to install a video board larger than the famed Godzillatron at D.K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and has unveiled its updated individual football lockers for ’17…Nebraska-Kearney’s Cope Stadium/Foster Field will take on a new look this autumn.

Jac Collinsworth is joining ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown in 2017 as a features reporter. The Notre Dame grad will work with the crew of the SNFLC on pregame shows beginning in September and will be a correspondent for ESPN’s NFL Live year round. He is the son of award-winning NBC commentator and former Florida All-America WR Cris Collinsworth…The All-American, which debuts Aug. 28 under managing editor and national award winner Stewart Mandel, has denoted its lead writers. They include:
Nicole Auerbach, formerly of USA Today; Matt Fortuna, formerly of ESPN.com, Chantel Jennings, formerly of ESPN.com, Max Olson, formerly of ESPN.com; Chris Vannini, formerly of managing editor of CoachingSearch.com, and Jason Kersey, formerly of SEC Country…Last weekend’s formal Inductees into the 2017 Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in Jackson, Miss., were Jackson State coach and administrator Bob Braddy, former Hall of Fame executive director and award-winning columnist Rick Cleveland, Eugenia Conner of Ole Miss, RB Marcus Dupree of Oklahoma, Leslie Frazier of Alcorn State (now defensive coordinator for the NFL Buffalo Bills), Jay Powell of Mississippi State and Major League Baseball, and College Baseball Hall of Fame coach and administrator Ron Polk as recipient of the Michael Rubenstein Memorial Rube Award for contribution to athletics…Former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich has joined Fox Sports as television college football analyst…UNLV Rebels radio football analyst Mike Pritchard will host a new talk show on 104.3 FM Radio The Fan in Denver, Colo….The newly-formed San Antonio Citywide Sports Network will produce 29 area college football and basketball games in 2017-18 for UTSA, Texas State, St. Mary’s, Trinity, and Incarnate Word.

2017 NCAA Football Rules and Officiating Coordinator Dr. Rogers Redding was featured on last week’s nationally-syndicated College Sports Weekly radio show…CoSIDA members Rob Knox of Towson, Jeffrey Bernstein of NYU, Kevin Ruple of Baldwin-Wallace, Gene McGivern of St. Thomas (Minn.), Brent Harris of Wabash, Tim Volkmann of SUNY Geneseo, and Eric Rhew of UNCW have been featured in the group’s recent national Open Forum discussions and updates…CoSIDA members Will Roleson of the CoSIDA central office staff, former Murray State athletics media director Craig Bohnert and former Conference USA assistant commissioner Brian Teter were featured as previous CoSIDA postgraduate scholarship recipients…CoSIDA also remembered the NCAA Division II all-time football game attendance record – a Sept. 29, 1979, game between Shippensburg and Slippery Rock at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor before a crowd of 61,143. The promotion was an idea of late Michigan AD and entrepreneur Don Canham…The Intercollegiate Tennis Association tabbed Andy Hogue as coordinator of new media and marketing.

Correspondent/Columnist Bo Carter recalls his 30-year anniversary of covering college baseball daily in Texas since he joined the Southwest Conference in 1986-87 and later with the Big 12 Conference, and here are some of his recollections:

2002 Big 12 Conference Baseball – Texas (57-15 overall, 19-8 Big 12) became the first team as a member of the Big 12 to win the NCAA Baseball Championship as coach Augie Garrido’s crew rode the pitching of relief ace Huston Street (son of former UT football and baseball great the late James Street and ’02 NCAA World Series MVP), and the heads-up play of future Major Leaguers Curtis Thigpen, Brandon Fahey, Dustin Majewski, Omar Quintanilla, and Justin Simmons to the crown and a 12-6 victory over South Carolina of the SEC in the winner-take-all final at Omaha. Street also set a CWS record with saves in each of the four UT victories. The Longhorns were joined in the ’02 NCAA field by No. 8 nationally and CWS participant Nebraska (47-21, 16-11), No. 24 Texas Tech (42-20, 16-11), Oklahoma (35-27, 15-12), and Baylor (36-26, 13-13). Oklahoma State (37-21, 13-13) surprisingly did not receive an at-large berth after several seasons of competing for top NCAA laurels.

2017-18 College Football Playoff Bowl Schedule with New Year’s six
(All Games Televised by ESPN, All Times EST)